


Eagle Wings, Eagle Claws

by sparklight



Series: Courting Ganymede [7]
Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: M/M, Non-Consensual Touching, One-Sided Attraction, Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27880794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: It's been a full nine years since Ganymede's first celebration of the Titans' defeat, which means there's another one coming. This also means he's been on Olympos for over ten years; ten years still involved with Zeus, who is not known for keeping his extra-marital lovers for very long at all. If Ganymede has some concerns about how long things might last when he has already outlasted everyone else, what are other people likely to think about it, and willing to do?
Relationships: Ganymede/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Series: Courting Ganymede [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672690
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Eagle Wings, Eagle Claws

"Look at you."

Looking over his shoulder, Ganymede grinned even as the blush that'd slowly started to heat his skin even before he met Zeus' eyes darkened and spread for the dark-eyed, intent look that swept over him. 

He'd known Zeus was behind him even if he hadn't heard the door open, for his presence filled up any space he entered. The reaching weight of divinity took up the rest, like a warm awareness in the back of Ganymede's mind from this distance. Even if he might have missed all of that, he’d felt the appreciative sweep of Zeus' gaze down his back, not so much stripping him bare as enjoying every little stretch of skin over long, perfect limbs and the various bits of decoration he wore. 

The kilt being one piece of decoration, certainly, by the way the silk of it clung, contrasted against the heavily embroidered hem and the border up along his hips in curling wave patterns. There were, however, other pieces of decoration, pieces that had a lot less to do with Ganymede's own taste and far more with Zeus', for the occasion. Not that he didn't usually wear at least _something_ that bore one of Zeus' symbols, but that was more because he wanted to. Yesterday, Zeus had stared at him and made it very clear that since he was coming with to Poseidon's palace for the next celebratory anniversary feast of the defeat of the Titans, it should be obvious that no one should so much as breathe wrong in his direction.

It'd felt a little like his father sticking a guard on him at all times outside of the palace for years after the incident with Minos. At least up until Zeus had come in just now and stared at him like that.

Maybe it wasn't so bad.

Cocking his hip, Ganymede turned smartly and looked up at Zeus, watching those dark eyes and the tiny twist to the corner of Zeus' mouth, just barely hidden by his short beard. A quick glance downwards revealed an even more physical appreciation of his following both the letter and the spirit of Zeus' demand. Shy pleasure battled with smugness for the effect he was currently having, just from donning a couple extra pieces of jewellry.

The oak leaf wreath had been the easiest choice, its gleaming golden leaves now just as much cushioned by as half hidden in his curls. The two rings, one on a finger on each hand, were shaped like tiny, stylized lightning bolts and set with a polished round and smooth sapphire in the center of each. The last piece was an arm ring which he'd hesitated a lot longer over but felt better about now, because Zeus was wearing a set of crystal-bead penannular bracelets terminating in golden ram heads along with the heavy ring he wore on one hand. Ganymede's arm ring sported a completely different motif, being a whole eagle curved around his bicep, wings outstretched. 

Zeus would probably have liked it if he'd chosen a kilt or tunic with matching motifs to the jewellery, but Ganymede had wanted to wear this one. It didn't just remind him of home, but the River Gods. Besides, it matched his eyes.

"You are dangerous, and I'm not sure you quite understand how much so." Zeus strode across the floor and grasped his chin, tipping his head up for a moment before he slid his hand sideways, cupping Ganymede's face. The openly wanting expression turned wry, the darkness in those gray eyes shifting sideways like it sometimes did, into something that might have been uncertainty if Zeus would ever confess to such an emotion. Not that he would, and soon he could probably pretend it'd never darkened his heart at all, since such moments happened less and less as the years passed. "But at least no one should think to touch you whether there's anyone else around to see such freedoms being taken or not."

Ganymede couldn't help himself and rolled his eyes, though he was still smiling. "I've been here over ten years by now. I'm pretty sure everyone knows Hebe's handed her position over."

Over ten years. It still made him marvel a little that it'd been that long, that he was still--- Pushing away the uncomfortable side of that thought, Ganymede focused on the more pleasant one, the realization of the time passed. He'd stopped noticing, mostly, after that first Velchania celebration, but when the murmurs of the next anniversary celebration sprung up, Ganymede had been struck remembering that there'd been one, the only one he'd attended so far, a little over a year after he'd first arrived and now, here was another one. Only the second one, but by all accounts there would be many others after this one.

"Whether they know or not matters less than that we will be out of Olympos, and some forget themselves, thinking a different location might give them greater licence if you don't remind them," Zeus said, his voice a rumble and his face stern.

Maybe he should just take that exactly as it was being given even if it seemed overly cautious, but... Ganymede looked Zeus up and down, then met his gaze past lowered lashes and smiled a little as he raised a hand to lay it against the back of Zeus' where it rested against his cheek.

"And you like it." It wasn't even teasing - maybe in a couple decades Ganymede could make it as teasing as Zeus deserved as well as earnest for both of their enjoyment of it, for Ganymede did enjoy it. The seemingly unnecessarily over-protective reason for it, aside from any attendant possessiveness, was what annoyed him more at the moment. No matter that both he and Zeus clearly did enjoy the display made.

But as much as Zeus probably did deserve to be gently mocked for his reaction, Ganymede was far more caught by the effect he'd had on him for so little effort.

"I do." Zeus swept his thumb up to stroke Ganymede's cheekbone. Ganymede had to draw a breath to silence the briefly tripping thunder of his heart, watching Zeus and the way that little smile he sported was tugging on his beautiful lips. Unfortunately Zeus got there before him. "Unfortunately I'll have little opportunity to show my appreciation. We're leaving now."

That enormous hand dropped from Ganymede's cheek to the small of his back, the gentle pressure propelling Ganymede forward much like a shepherd might use his staff or dogs to expertly direct his herd of sheep. Suppressing a sigh Ganymede went along, entirely expecting it when Zeus broke off to join up with Hera partway through the gate for the walk down the stairs and the chariots. At least their parting hadn’t been without a last brush of fingertips along his arm. Ganymede figured he'd find Hebe and ride with her if there was space enough for that. Looking around, however, Hestia caught his attention and waved him over, handing him the reins as soon as he was close enough to take them.

"If you could, please, darling Ganymede," Hestia smiled down at him and since this was just as good a choice as Hebe, why would he mind?

"Of course, my l---"

A finger touched his chin, then Hestia touched her own lips, and Ganymede laughed sheepishly.

"And here you've been doing so well for a while. I hope you know you've been a delight, as always," Hestia said, patting his shoulder before she turned around next to him and draped her arm around his shoulders, though the glance she shot him as he urged the horses into moving was questioning. Ganymede cleared his throat and hoped the burn he could feel in his gut wasn't visible on his face as he shied away from her examination.

"I was just distracted," he mumbled, and Hestia's laugh had him blushing before she even spoke up, though her voice was lightly warm and only a little teasing.

"I thought you looked like you'd lost something coming out through the gate, and yet the walk through the palace is surely not so long as that."

He could not groan in flustered embarrassment. Not in front of _Hestia_. 

And so Ganymede manfully suppressed everything - including the words that recklessly wanted to spill out carried on the wings of his earlier smugness, that the walk unfortunately wasn't long enough - and only shook his head in response, focusing on steering the chariot to keep pace with everyone else. They followed the coast south until they were skimming along Euboea, and at that point Ganymede looked around, then down, then looked to Hestia, since they'd passed any nearby mountain Poseidon could presumably have had his palace on, and he knew the palace was supposed to be in these surroundings.

"Where are we going?" His confusion and curiosity wasn't lessened as Hestia smiled at him and pointed down to the land below.

"To the ocean, very shortly."

"... _Into_ the water? But how?" Ganymede's grip on the reins tightened unintentionally, until the horses nickered, their ears swivelling nervously and he was reminded to ease his grip up. He could swim, of course, that wasn't the problem, but he doubted that was something that would matter here, from the way Hestia had spoken. Her smile widened into warm amusement and she touched his cheek.

"The water will move for us, you will see. Just follow the others, though if we do lag behind I can open the way myself. There's no need to look so worried, Ganymede. No one's going to let you drown, me least of all." Hestia bent down and kissed the top of his head, and Ganymede shook it as soon as she'd straightened again, cheeks hot.

"I didn't think I was at risk of that, Hestia!" Well. Mostly not. Primal instinct insisted diving straight into the ocean would surely be a very bad idea. "It just feels..."

How was he supposed to explain the nervous, wiggling twist in his gut? It seemed ridiculous, especially when surrounded by deities who, even if something did go wrong, would easily be able to save him, or keep him safe through it. Nonetheless, he gave the horses the reins to let them dive downwards with the rest of the contingent while he ducked his head away from Hestia's amused laughter as she hugged him closer again.

"Says the young man who loves flying and does it as daringly as if he had wings himself, when he does not!"

Yeah, that. His blush darkening, Ganymede still gulped at the glittering, sunset-fiery sea approaching - and then, before the horses of Zeus' and Hera's chariot were close enough to touch the water, it split for them much like a maid drawing the curtains apart in the morning, to let in the warming sunlight of the day. Ganymede stared, first down, then _around_ , up at the soundless towers of water rising around them as they went down, down, and deeper than he would've thought the water could be, aiming squarely for a distant, pearly glimmer of light as the dying sunlight from above and behind them grew dimmer. Against his better judgement Ganymede glanced over his shoulder, shuddering at how distant the slice of twilight sky was. It was even worse when the water started to close again from the surface and down towards them, leaving them dry and in an encased, but also diminishing, bubble of air.

Swallowing heavily, Ganymede faced forward again and focused firmly on what he was doing and not where they were. Which was pretty easy, since soon Poseidon's palace towered up about them and they used the last bit of air bubble to land on the sea bottom and trot into a cavern that turned into a wide open, sandy cave that had a stable set along one wall.

From there, things were familiar enough Ganymede could forget how they'd entered the palace.

At least, that was, until they entered the feasting hall. At first glance it was similar enough to the same sort of hall in Zeus' palace, clearly made to accommodate all the various deities down to the milling nymphs, spiral columns scattered out into seeming infinity. But then Ganymede looked up, and saw the roof wasn't there.

"Oh." His whisper caught between a delighted gasp and wary awe, Ganymede realized a moment later it wasn't that there wasn't a roof at all, but rather that it was see-through. 

Probably glass, though he'd never seen that much glass in one place before. But he could see straight up into the water outside and beyond, see shoals of fishes and larger, solitary ones swimming by, as well as a couple frolicking hippocampi. All that vast amount of water on top of them stopped being so unsettling, then, and he smiled, shook himself to tear away from the view, and looked down into Hebe's amused smile. Though she ducked her head away from his sheepish expression when she realized he'd caught her watching him, and Ganymede laughed quietly as he caught up to her. 

"That is _amazing_." Ganymede gently elbowed her, which jostled Hebe into straightening up and meeting his gaze again, she nodded.

"It is, isn't it?" Glancing around, she leaned down, cupping a hand near his ear to further safeguard her words against curious ears that weren't Ganymede's. "I'm pretty sure Uncle made it this way just to show off, this hall was constructed after Father had the great feasting hall up in the palace made, I've been told."

Trying not to burst out laughing, but his shoulders shaking like a young mountain aspen in a hard autumn wind, Ganymede followed Hebe deeper into the room.

"Here you are," Hebe said, relaxed now, as she turned towards him and handed him one of the two kylikes she'd taken from a nymph. It shouldn’t be surprising, for Hebe had given him quite a few cups over the last ten years, and before that he'd been handed every drink he'd ever thought about touching, but it was still startling, somehow.

"Thank you." Smiling wryly as he took it, fingers carefully closing about the stem, Ganymede looked up from the shimmering gleam of nectar to Hebe smiling and, as their eyes met, her smile tilting, too. She understood. She'd been Cupbearer for far longer than he, after all, so why wouldn't she? "Before I get dragged into dancing or Eros insists on pulling me into a game with some of Lord Poseidon's subjects, do you see Xanthos, Simoeis or Elektra anywhere?"

"Not from here." Hebe stretched up on her toes, obligingly looking around, but even for one of the Deathless Ones the room was vast, its space not so easily surveyed. It was much easier traversed as long as one wanted the exit or the head of the room, where Poseidon sat with Amphitrite and his children. Turning his gaze away from the knot over there, where Zeus and Hera currently were as well, Ganymede nodded.

"I'll come back later."

With a nod, Hebe gently pushed him off, and Ganymede, though he knew it was a slim chance and he would more probably have to let either of those three find him, still set off. At least this time he knew how to solve potentially getting lost in this vast space - going to the entrance doors was easy enough no matter where you were in the room. 

Besides, it let him get a look around, get a feel for how this sort of thing looked and worked in another palace than Zeus'.

Attending this as merely another guest was both strange and familiar. Having again all the free time he wished to roam the festivities and do whatever he liked had apparently become unfamiliar more quickly than he would have ever thought. Despite that, it was, like any other celebration, familiar to him. The differences, bar the glittering weight of the guests and the vastness of the room, were smaller than the similarities to any other feast or celebration he would have attended growing up. Familiar, too, were the stares, though it was harder to tell if it was because of his looks or because of his position. Not the position he was used to it being, either, for all that he'd quickly fallen into his role as the Cupbearer, but that was the one everyone here would consider more important than being a prince of Troy.

If it only were _just_ that they were staring for; Ganymede was still surprised his looks should keep so many among the Deathless Ones in thrall. He rather hoped he never took that for granted. 

If nothing else he was used to the stares on their own. He really wouldn't want to know how hard it would have been to get used to all this if he hadn’t already been used to the attention he'd gotten being born as a prince, completely aside from his physical allure. The stares were, thus, not Ganymede's greatest issue currently. It was the fact that it felt near impossible to find the ones he was looking for. He knew both Xanthos and Simoeis would be here, and Elektra and her sisters as well. He was still hoping Elektra wouldn't get the idea to introduce him to all of her sisters at once this time. That would be awfully intimidating, but he would risk it for seeing her again. The river gods came every year for his birthday, at the very least, so he had already met them relatively recently. Didn't mean he didn't want another chance to do so, especially during this event when he also didn't need to keep an eye on Zeus and Hera's cups.

He didn't seem to have much luck, though.

Sighing, Ganymede looked around once more, but by now he was seeing no one familiar at all. At best he could've pointed to a nymph or minor god or goddess here and there and said he vaguely remembered having seen them at the last feast like this, or in the intervening years at one of the larger celebrations on Olympos. That currently helped him not at all, so perhaps he should just go back and wait.

"You're looking awfully glum, and that just isn't right at all. Not for a face like yours. Lost?"

Ganymede looked up into a gaze he'd felt on him since before he'd paused, he realized, but while the look in those dark eyes was penetrating, it told him nothing. Well, nothing aside from leaving Ganymede to wonder if he was being gently mocked, for there was an edge to the minor god's voice for all of the curiosity on his face.

"Not really," he said, shaking his head and was reminded of the weight of the wreath there, which momentarily lightened his mood. It was also a relief to be able to say he wasn’t lost and mean it. "I’m looking for Xanthos, Simoeis or the Pleiad Elektra. Have you seen any of them?"

Maybe he should've stopped to ask people before this, but he'd been so caught up in both just looking around as well as searching that it hadn't occurred to him. Maybe he'd also just wanted to find them himself, even when it would absolutely have been easier to wait with Hebe or the Erotes, for they would have come searched him out sooner or later.

"Hm. Not I. Not as I recall, anyway." The unknown minor deity with his piercing eyes shook his head after a brief, considering moment, then raised them to look off over Ganymede's head. "Hey, Koalemos! Have you seen any of the Pleiads or the river gods of the Troad around yet?"

"Wha--- uh."

Ganymede looked over his shoulder, terribly curious right then. He'd so far never heard even the most minor nymph speak like that, which made the speaker – tall and slim and with wide, brown eyes soft like the pelt of a newborn fawn - sound surprisingly human. Light slowly entered those eyes as Koalemos went from almost shaking his head to nodding, though he was looking not at Ganymede, but the minor deity behind him.

"Oh, yeah. Somewhere..." He turned and pointed deeper into the vast room, and the god behind Ganymede snickered.

"You'll have to excuse Koalemos, he's not the quickest around here," he said as Ganymede turned back to face him again, and maybe it wasn't that he found Ganymede in particular worthy to be made fun of, for he sounded just about the same when he spoke of Koalemos. Perhaps even a little sharper. "I'm Koros. Maybe we can help you. Koalemos will have an easier time if he can just show you where he saw whoever last, though it's useless to ask him which of the ones you're looking for he might have seen."

Ganymede was inclined to agree, but wasn't about to smile in commiseration for having to deal with the obviously slightly dull deity. Such a reason wouldn't have been right even if Koalemos had been nothing more than a mortal human. Instead he nodded in answer to the offer.

"I should probably have asked if someone had seen them before this, anyway." He'd done so now, though, and hopefully that would bring his wanderings short. Ganymede had started to feel like a deer or goat kid separated from its mother, foolishly leaving its secure hiding spot to go wandering through the forest dells in search of her.

"We're all a little stupid, sometimes! Just ask Koalemos, he knows that better than anyone," Koros said with a smirk and Ganymede couldn't help his little frown, but he wasn't sure there was anything suitable to say, so didn't. 

Instead he turned around to follow Koalemos, who glanced to Koros and then started walking. Koros dropping an arm around his shoulders almost startled Ganymede into freezing, but after a moment, the skin at the back of his neck prickling uncomfortably, he took two quicker steps to get out from under it. Koros huffed but said nothing, just trailed after him and Koalemos as they wandered through the crowds. Surprisingly, the number of people soon thinned out until they ended up near one of the actual walls, a number of doors set into it to offer places to retreat to but not need to wander the palace if one felt need thereof. Frowning, Ganymede wondered if Koalemos might have been mistaken. Or maybe whoever of them he'd seen had left this spot, since there was no knowing how recently he'd seen them.

Sighing and more disappointed than he'd thought he'd be, Ganymede shook his head. "Thank you for the help, but it looks like I'll have to keep searching. I should probably just go back---"

"Wait, wait, let's just check the room here, right? They'd be over here for a reason, after all!" Koros shot him a smile as he stepped past him, but while he was not wrong, Ganymede took a step back and managed to step right into Koalemos.

"Sorry." He glanced up over his shoulder, but Koalemos only shook his head, seeming little bothered. "It's okay, I don't think---"

Koros closed a hand around his wrist and yanked him forward just as Koalemos pushed. Ganymede staggered, nearly stumbling on his feet as he was pulled inside the room. Drawing a startled breath he twisted away, but at that point they were already well inside and when Koros let go Ganymede ended up standing in the middle of the room. The door was closed and Koros and Koalemos were between him and the door. Koros was taller and broader than Koalemos, and while he had a fair face, the edge in his voice now seemed to have spread to his face as well, turning those gentle features into something edged. Koros' smile, pretending to something sweeter, just left Ganymede to cold. Scowling, he took a wary step back and sideways, trying to put some distance between himself and the daimones, though that availed him little.

"Move." He'd intended to be polite about it, wary to insult any of the Deathless Ones, but discomfort that edged closer to an emotion Ganymede would little like further acquaintance with - or even to acknowledge - straightened his spine and darkened his voice. He'd not often even sounded like this in Troy, for he'd had little reason to it, indulged and, well, protected, as he'd been. The most recent had been when Minos took him.

Which Ganymede didn't want to think about.

"There's no need to pretend now, sweetest Ganymede, most beautiful of mortals born," Koros said, looking him up and down with judgement as well as lingering stickiness, and Ganymede honestly couldn't tell if the words had been supposed to be a compliment or sneering judgement. "No one else can see, now, so why don't you take off those useless trappings?"

Koros gestured to his head and side, and Ganymede hardly needed him to name the wreath and arm ring to figure out what he'd meant. Flushing, Ganymede glared.

"Pretending? _To what_? And I'm not taking a single thing I'm wearing off. Let me pass." He took a long, firm step forward, aiming more towards Koalemos in the hope he was the weaker link. But for all that Koalemos' doe eyes were soft still, there was a darkening light in them when Ganymede got closer. On top of that Koalemos reached out for him - and neither of the two stepped to the side. Ganymede shied away from the hand and shifted backwards, knowing that was the wrong direction to go in even before Koros and Koalemos followed him. His gut tightened further and his throat twisted shut, but he took a breath and tried to ignore it. These two were not King Minos, and they weren't anyone who really could act with impunity. Surely they knew that?

"Wreathing yourself in the symbols of the ruler of the skies as if it means anything," Koros said, the words a sneer, disdain dripping from every syllable as he looked Ganymede up and down. 

Curling his toes in against the soles of his sandals as if that would hide even the smallest part of his feet in the least and curving an arm around himself, hand closing over the arm ring, Ganymede was, frankly, baffled. And feeling weirdly insulted. Why wouldn't it mean something? Even if Zeus hadn't explicitly told him to do something like this and definitely approved of the end result, he was still the cupbearer of the lord of Olympos. Why _wouldn't_ he wear his emblems?

"It _does_ \---"

"You look, y'know, smarter than claiming that," Koalemos said, shaking his head and meeting Ganymede's frown with an expression that didn't seem to know if it wanted to be sympathetic or condescending.

"Like I said, listen to Koalemos. He knows stupidity." Koros grinned, sharp-toothed and bright, and lunged suddenly. Ganymede, slow and startled, still leaped away sideways, tripping over his own feet with a curse and almost thanked the help he got in catching his balance when a hand closed about his arm, steadying him. Then that grip turned light, the fingers stroking over his skin, and Ganymede shivered, his stomach turning as he looked up into Koalemos' eyes, heavy-lidded and lingering on his lips and the hollow of his throat. Yanking himself backwards, Ganymede froze when he thumped into the wall. Hadn't it been further away?

"You have _no idea_ what you're talking about. You really don't want to do this," Ganymede snapped, pretending like his heart wasn't in the back of his throat and like his hand wasn't trembling as he smacked Koros' hand away when it reached for his chin.

"Why not? You're the Cupbearer, to be sure, honoured enough for such a stunning mortal-born, the likes of you certainly never seen before. But you're not married to a goddess as might have befitted your looks and your heritage, not even to a nymph, and it's been nine years since you were brought to Olympos, Prince Ganymede." Koros reached again, and this time he snatched Ganymede's wrist as he tried to whack his hand away again, squeezing it enough his fingers dug into soft flesh, though his thumb was gentle against the inside of Ganymede's wrist. "I have never heard Father Zeus interested in anyone at all, goddess, nymph, or for those mortals that've drawn his eyes by now, beyond a couple months unless they've been one of his wives. And you're male, besides. He can't have been that invested. You're fooling no one, and surely you're getting bored with no attention as you deserve?"

Koros pulled Ganymede's hand towards himself, turned it around and actually bent down to kiss his knuckles, then twisted it around again and this time it wasn't just lips, but the tip of his tongue brushing the thin skin of the inside of his wrist. Ganymede flushed darkly, the heat of it fighting against a chill as if he'd been doused with ice water from a spring-melt stream.

"That's..."

Koros was wrong, and he was wrong on several points. 

Ganymede could point to what had happened merely an hour or two ago as proof that Zeus was most definitely still, and more than that, very, invested as well as interested. He wasn’t going to tell that to these two; they didn’t deserve to know. For a moment the memory warmed him and he idly stroked the etched pattern of the feathers in the wings of eagle that made up his arm ring, then dropped his hand to his side, tightening it into a fist. But still, he couldn't deny he might have been thinking about how much time had passed, even if he didn't want to do that. Thinking about it by not thinking about it, fearing when he still wanted so much it hurt, sometimes. 

But Zeus hadn't stopped wanting him yet and Koros was wrong.

"I'm not a goddess. Or a nymph," Ganymede said tightly, straightening up even if that did nothing at all since he still had to look up at both daimones. But it did ease his back away from the wall, and it made him feel a little more in control. He was older, now. Older than when Minos had kidnapped him, older than when Zeus had first taken him, and while he sometimes didn't feel any older at all, and in some ways wasn't, he also most definitely was. He wasn't going to be intimidated so easily, this time. Admittedly it did help that it was two minor gods trying to crowd him in against the wall and not one of the greater ones. "So I can't tell you why Father Zeus is still interested, but he most defin---"

"His skin tastes sweet," Koros said, expression bored as he looked away from Ganymede and to Koalemos instead. Ganymede stared, brought to a floundering halt by the interruption, then tried to yank his hand out of Koros' grip, but he tightened it into aching again. His fingers twitched, stiff now. "Why don't you see if his mouth does, too?"

"What? No," Ganymede hissed, shrinking back again as he glanced to Koalemos even as Koros yanked on his hand again. "You don't w---!"

Koalemos most definitely did want. The brief glance Ganymede got of his expression as he leaned in, hand clamped against the side of his face, was dark-eyed and wanting. Koros might be egging him on, but he had desires he wanted quenched on all his own.

Koalemos' lips were soft, but he didn't linger or hesitate, and Ganymede had nowhere else to go. At the same time, his fingertips brushed fabric, and he clamped his hand into a fist entirely on reflex. Ganymede had little joy of Koros' exasperated and disappointed grunt when only his knuckles brushed against the growing hardness hidden under the drape of Koros' kilt, for he couldn’t avoid Koalemos at all, unable to turn his head against the daimon’s strength. Koros let go of Ganymede's hand, but that didn't matter when Koalemos was practically devouring his mouth, and Ganymede felt cold. 

A little nauseous, too, and suddenly he just felt fourteen again. He could swear the floor under him was shifting as if there was water underneath it, a ship swaying with the waves, but he knew the only water was _around them_ , far beyond the palace's walls, not right under his feet.

He couldn't focus to even try something like biting down. All he could think about was that he _didn't want this_ , and it was stupid, ridiculous, honestly, that this had probably only happened because Zeus had been trying to avoid something exactly like this! It didn't feel funny, though. Maybe it would, later, sometime, but right now his mouth was full and he couldn't move, and it was not in the least as fun as Zeus could make it. He'd felt so guilty about the awkward bits of arousal he'd felt when Minos had kissed him, but now there was nothing, and it didn’t make him feel any better than the embarrassment had.

Ganymede jerked, noise muffled into the kiss, when a hand flattened itself against his chest, slid along it with surprising gentleness and a thumb stroked his nipple. Maybe that gentleness wasn’t so surprising, though. Koalemos wasn't being particularly forceful either, but neither needed to be. The daimones were stronger than he was, though they looked a bare handful of years older, if even that.

The shiver of sensation that shot through him from that touch finally jerked Ganymede into some form of action. One hand already pushing against Koalemos' shoulder, his punch was, frankly, laughable even if Koalemos had been mortal, but it didn't matter. The hit jolted through him and he dropped down, sliding a little against the wall as he bent his knees - swallowed against the swell of nausea remembering he'd gone to his knees to beg Minos to take him back to Troy - and shoved forward, aiming for the space between the two daimones. Hoping surprise would be on his side, and using his lack of height to his advantage. Instead his nose smashed into their arms and he staggered down onto his knees, flinching.

"Shit."

That had hurt. Blinking a couple tears away that had little to do with his aching nose, Ganymede froze as a hand took a handful of curls and yanked his head up.

"Pretty mouth like that shouldn't be cursing," Koros said, eyebrows arched and sneering now, but the annoyance was nothing next to the fact that his erection was now obvious, the kilt doing nothing to hide it. "I can get better noises out of you."

No.

Koros looked up to Koalemos and smiled while he touched Ganymede's slightly swollen lips with his other hand and then his own covered erection. "Why don't you take the other side?"

 _Definitely_ not.

The floor swayed again, or maybe that was just the rising wave of vertigo, and Ganymede shook his head against the hand in his hair, the weight of the wreath lopsided by now. Koalemos touched his shoulder, and Ganymede flinched.

" _No_. Y---"

The door slammed open, and the air, heavy before, turned charged. 

Both Koalemos and Koros, already turning to look, let go of him with curses, for there were tiny static shocks skipping between Ganymede's curls and the wreath - they hit Ganymede too, of course, and certainly didn't make him feel much better. At the same time, it was such a massive relief he didn't care that he could feel the heat from the wreath, from the rings on his fingers and the eagle arm ring as the electricity heated the metal. It felt like he was chewing static, so thick was pressure in the air, and Ganymede looked up, past the two daimones, to a Zeus who was practically glowing, his hair floating about him and crowned as much by the physical olive leaf wreath of gold he wore as the miniature lightning bolts dancing about the metal and the strands of his hair.

"F-father Ze---!"

The air hissed.

Ganymede threw himself back against the wall as far as he could go and squeezed his eyes shut, more for how it hurt to look at Zeus than for the popping crackle, so very subtle for how both Koalemos and Koros jerked before they fell to the ground. His toes and skin in general felt hot and tender when he opened his eyes again, sparks still making him flinch when they made contact with his forehead or ears. The weight of Zeus' footsteps echoed more than the actual impact of them on the marble as he crossed the floor in three steps, lifted both daimones up and hurled them into a pile in front of the open door.

"You are lucky you are guests of another god," Zeus snarled and the air quailed while the marble groaned in protest. His hands, though, when he picked Ganymede up and put him on his feet, lightly righting the oak leaf wreath, were cool and infinitely gentle. The touch to his cheek, the same side Koalemos had been gripping, kicked Ganymede into drawing a shuddering breath.

"We didn't---! I mean, uh, um..." Koalemos stuttered into a stop after the indignant start, wincing and freezing halfway back onto his feet. Koros was smart enough to say nothing, but the stare he aimed at Ganymede burned. As if this was _his fault_? He'd told them! And even if Zeus hadn't cared, since he wouldn't have wanted it anyway - two unknown daimones held little interest - they should've listened.

"I am still of a mind to ask my brother leave to act as I will, and I would then toss you both into Tartaros. _Leave_ , and know you're henceforth not welcome on Olympos!"

Koros and Koalemos snapped their mouths shut in unison - it would have been funny in other circumstances - and hurried out of the room as quickly and well as they were able considering they'd just been stuck by a small bit of lightning. Small only because Ganymede had been too close for Zeus to safely let loose. Immortal Ganymede might be, but he could still be harmed, and much more easily so than the Deathless Ones. The door swung closed by its own weight and clicked shut behind Koros and Koalemos, leaving silence to fill the room. A stray bit of static electricity skittered along the handle, and Ganymede slumped against Zeus' side, burying his face against Zeus' ribs. 

It didn't hurt to be this close to him now, and that was a relief because he would've pressed close regardless.

" _Ganymede_ \---"

A tremble washed through him for the tension and relief in Zeus' quiet voice, and then he was swept up in those huge, solid arms, high up enough Ganymede could throw his arms around Zeus' neck. The kiss tasted like lightning, like spring rain and like wet heat, the last like any kiss might, but it washed away the sourness that'd been sticking to the back of Ganymede's throat and to his tongue after Koalemos had kissed him.

Pulling back only to push forward into another kiss, hands buried deep in Zeus' wavy locks, Ganymede only let himself breathe again when Zeus put him down on one of the two couches in the middle of the room, flanked by two chairs. He'd tried not to think about the furniture before, but now it was a relief it was there. With Zeus kneeling in front of him, blocking out most of the room, it the space Ganymede had to focus on smaller and easier to deal with. All he really needed to pay attention to was Zeus himself, larger than life and his eyes still black, but his expression nearly hurt to look at, and his hands as he cradled Ganymede's face were barely touching him at all.

"Zeus..." His throat closed up and he shook his head as Zeus pushed the curls away from his temples and cheeks. Not that he knew what he wanted to say, really. "Piḫaššaššiš, I---"

"Quiet, beloved."

He wasn't going to cry. Not for hearing that endearment, and not for the way Zeus' hands started wandering, light and yet all-encompassing. 

He didn't, either, but it was admittedly a bit of a near thing as Zeus combed his fingers through his curls, then lightly fluffed them around his shoulders before he stroked his thumbs over Ganymede's forehead, down his cheeks and then trailed his fingertips along his throat. Zeus then swept his hands, palms flat, out over his shoulders, squeezed the rounded ends of them and closed his hands around Ganymede's arms to caress down the length of each limb until he reached his hands. He squeezed them, then lifted each in turn and kissed the tips of Ganymede's fingers, his palms.

It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on here, but Ganymede didn't care. It felt good, and it made him feel better. If it made Zeus feel better too, Ganymede would just encourage him.

Hands stroked down his chest and sides, following the cushioned jut of each rib. Lightly smacked his abdomen, and Ganymede laughed, startled to hear himself but that pulled a wider, surer, smile out of him as Zeus squeezed his hips. From there he made a detour to somehow both feel up his ass and make it just as gently sweet as his other touches had been so far. Slid his hands around, down the soft, silky slide of fabric until he reached skin and squeezed there too, and this time Ganymede's laughter was easier, matching Zeus’ brightening little smile.

Zeus bent and kissed each of his knees, bare butterfly kisses against skin. He then straightened up while his hands continued down in their feathery caress, following the muscles of his calves and ending at his feet, rubbing Ganymede’s toes between his thumbs and the soles of his sandals.

"What _were_ you doing?" Zeus frowned as he finally spoke up. He hadn’t looked away once from Ganymede's face as he'd touched almost all over his cupbearer's body and Ganymede grimaced.

"Trying to find Elektra or Xanthos and Simoeis," he murmured, gripping his own elbow in a half-hug and looking away from the intent stare of the god. Zeus sighed, squeezed his ankle, and rose to his feet as lightly as a breath of air despite towering like a mountain.

"Let's find them, then, and after that you stay wi---"

"Zeus." Ganymede coloured as he realized he'd interrupted him, but now that he'd already done so he couldn't stop. Since he was already begging he looked up as he reached out, grabbing hold of the tunic above Zeus' heavy belt. "Can we--- sit here, a while?"

The little twist between Zeus' brows unknitted itself and he nodded. Ganymede found himself lying on the couch, his head in Zeus' lap, and one of those large hands combing through his hair. The half of an intent to protest that he wanted to curl up against him evaporated for the gentle weight and careful fingers through his curls and he curled up, staying right where he was. Zeus' other hand dropped down to rest on his hip, thumb stroking over silk and leather.

This was good. Just as good as being swept up in Zeus' arms earlier, the kiss setting nearly everything to rights again. Still, the longer he laid there, the more guilty he felt. Not for his inability to extricate himself from that situation, or, well. Not _much_ for that.

"... I'm sorry."

"For _what_?" Zeus rumbled, warning creeping into his tone, and Ganymede smiled, sheepishly, against the solid thigh he was resting against. Rolled over to bury his face against Zeus' abdomen, and though this meant his mouth was dangerously close to Zeus' covered cock, it remained quiescent even when such a gentle, threatening brush of breath might otherwise have stirred it into needing.

"Interrupting you attending the feast by asking you to sta---"

Zeus’ hand in his hair, tightening around its handful of curls, silenced him. Then it pressed him closer to Zeus, and Ganymede ducked his head a little further, even when that dug metal leaves against both his own forehead and into Zeus' abdomen, just to feel the pressure and resistance there, reassuring as it was. That the wreath had managed to stay on through all this was a surprise, but a pleasing such.

"For you, anything." Zeus said it quietly, and yet it filled the whole room, set Ganymede to trembling all the way into his soul.

Hesitantly, he looked up. 

The solid black was all gone now. Zeus' eyes were gray, still as a storm before it broke out and yet turbulent with restrained energy, and briefly, Zeus' hand trembled where it was tangled in his curls, then stilled. He didn't look startled so much as vaguely uncomfortable, if just for a brief moment, having said that out loud. Ganymede swallowed heavily and smiled shyly, rewarded with those eyes going so soft and dark he could have drowned in them.

Ten years was no time at all for the Deathless Ones, but it was an eternity for a god who, while he cheated and did so rather often, did not keep those relationships much past the first tumble into bed. Only rarely, and even then hardly more than a couple months. Maybe it was no wonder Koros had been so certain he could do whatever he wanted, and Koalemos had been easily swayed into going along with it for his own wants. This whole situation with his cupbearer was certainly unusual for Zeus, completely aside Ganymede's sex. Ganymede might have been wondering - fearing - when this might be over, exactly because Zeus' lovers did not last even a fraction of the time he had, but what did Zeus think about it? Reaching up, Ganymede could not so much as ghost past the tip of Zeus' beard, and instead let his hand fall flat against the center of Zeus' chest, which seemed so endlessly broad but was shown to be rather elegant in comparison to Poseidon's build.

He probably shouldn't ask what Zeus felt about it. What if he got an answer he didn't like? It wasn't like it really mattered why the two daimones had tried to push him into sex. That they'd tried at all when he'd not been willing, regardless of Zeus' potential involvement or interest was bad enough, wasn't it? 

And yet...

"They thought they didn't need to listen to me, because surely you couldn't be interested any more," Ganymede said, biting his lip, wondering why he'd done that. Revealing that just wouldn't change anything. Zeus stared down at him, his relaxed pose going stiff and his eyes darkening into storm-grey, then further into black again, and Ganymede watched, captivated and breathless and frankly a little concerned. And turned on.

"And they simply ignored _this_?" Zeus growled, so deep the wood of the couch groaned and the air around them trembled, and touched the golden oak leaves of Ganymede's wreath. Swallowing hard and wetting his lips, Ganymede flattened his hand out where it lay against Zeus' chest, feeling that beat within that was as much heartbeat as it was the beat of Zeus' divine essence, the core of him.

"They thought, it was just for my position as your cupbearer, and that..." Oh, he was a little glad Koros and Koalemos were out of sight and probably reach now, they'd already been punished plenty. Still, under that hypnotic, solid-black gaze, Ganymede was urged on. Couldn’t have stayed silent if he’d tried. "And that I was trying too hard to keep your interest, wearing all of this."

Zeus blinked, and his eyes cleared, going softly gray again as his gaze wandered down over Ganymede's body while he lightly stroked his cheek. It was as much a leer as it was warm appreciation, and it did not make him feel disgusting. 

"You certainly would have recaptured it, if I should have lost interest," Zeus said quietly, and while he was still staring, his gaze had gone soft and unfocused. The frown came slowly, and then his gaze sharpened again, though he looked no less... consternated, perhaps, as he met Ganymede's gaze, looked to his mouth, his hair, his eyes again, and touched fingertips to a spot right underneath one of his eyes. "Your honour will be everlasting regardless of my interest or lack thereof, but I can't see myself losing it."

Zeus did not say 'yet', or 'at all', but the weighted stare, the frown on his face, which would have had Ganymede concerned he'd done something wrong years ago for how stern Zeus looked, now revealed what was underneath that. Confusion, maybe, if he had to guess, though he would never _have_ guessed that ten years ago. But this was pretty singular when it came to Zeus, as far as Ganymede understood it. It didn't actually give any sort of time frame to maybe get used to the idea that Zeus would one day lose interest, but it also offered the cautious hope that he might simply not need to, though that felt too daring. Regardless, he'd be worried about the former anyway, so why not focus on the latter?

"I'll be here," Ganymede said, his smile a slow, warm thing less shy than it would have been a handful of years ago, and when Zeus' frown fell away for an answering smile, Ganymede could just as well have been flying.

"And perhaps there will be no more foolishness, and this once will have been enough." By Zeus' tone of voice, it sounded like it would _better be_ the only time this happened. Ganymede shivered a little and hoped the same, though just as much for other people's sake as his own. 

And maybe it was wrong, but...

"It was very impressive, love." Ganymede blushed a little for the way Zeus' gaze darkened, his smile more a near feral baring of his teeth than anything else. It urged Ganymede up from his safe spot, and he straddled Zeus' thighs, leaning in for a kiss. A light one, barely a brush of lips, and when Zeus' hand came up to cradle the back of his head he didn't deepen it, just tangled his hand there. It left them breathing each other's air.

"You say these things," Zeus murmured, turning his head so his lips brushed Ganymede's ear, curls pushed aside, "when we should return. Do you feel ready to do so, my prince?"

Ganymede took a breath, let it out. Nodded.

"I do."

"Then keep in mind what I've just said, and what I said before we left, and tuck those words away into your heart until the end of the evening, for I intend to make you thoroughly educated as to my opinion on those matters." Zeus' hands were now on his ass and he squeezed, a thumb briefly teasing along the covered cleft and Ganymede smothered his laughter into another kiss, then slid off both Zeus and the couch. As Zeus stood up, he reached out, fingers tracing first one of the wings that embraced Ganymede's arm and then a couple of the leaves on the wreath. Briefly, his expression turned hard before he looked down, meeting Ganymede's eyes with a small smile and turned him around towards the door. "I'll leave you with Elektra, and she can find you your grandfather after, or he'll find you with Elektra and her sisters."

"Don't remind me of that possibility, my lord. I'm not sure I'm ready for that," Ganymede groaned and Zeus' laughed, the thunderous roll of it filling the room and chasing away any lingering shadows as it followed them out, Zeus' hand at the small of Ganymede's back.

It really was doubtful anyone else would try something of the like what had happened in this room again, regardless of how long Zeus' interest lasted, but the lack of said interest now seemed like a very dim possibility indeed.


End file.
